


Slow Down

by LuckyPossums



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Apex Legends Quest: The Broken Ghost, Eventual Smut, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mildly inconvenienced acquaintances to lovers, Miscommunication, Pining, Soulmates, Trans Octane | Octavio Silva
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:13:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24850612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuckyPossums/pseuds/LuckyPossums
Summary: Taejoon Park had a problem that had nothing to do with the Syndicate and everything to do with the soulmate mark on his wrist. It took him longer than it should have to figure out that the solution was right in front of him.
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Octane | Octavio Silva
Comments: 7
Kudos: 79





	1. Chapter One

Tae Joon should have known it was a bad idea for a dozen different reasons.

In Gaea, the law was unflinching and unyielding and soulmate marks were no exception to that. It was as made as clear as glass to everyone there, no one was allowed to be marked until twenty-one. Only then could someone visit a soulmate tattooist and have that eternal name stamped on their wrist.

Mila had always hated the idea and he'd sat through enough of her ramblings about how ridiculous it was that he probably knew them off by heart by now. After all, she had a dozen different examples at the ready of places were people could get them much younger. Some places with no age limit at all.

When they were still young enough that they couldn't reach the highest cabinet in the Ticacek orphanage's kitchen, Crypto had asked her, "then what's the point in an age limit?"

"I read a thing that said it's to keep people under control," Mila murmured wide-eyed. "If you get a criminal record before twenty-one then you can't get a mark. That's how they're going to control people by making more restrictions soon. Or there's another theory I read up on."

"What's that one say?"

She leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "the Syndicate is run by lizard people.

"This is why Ms Ticacek won't let us use the computer anymore."

But it wasn't the ridiculous conspiracy theories that Mila read before they were even teenagers that led him here. When Tae Joon would look back at this moment in the future, he would shamefully have to admit that he only owed what happened to sheer pettiness.

There were only so many times that two havoc-wreaking children could be juggled around different families before someone figured out that it was easier to keep them together. Of the two of them, Mila had always been the reckless and adventurous one. She yelled and screamed and shoved her new sister's dolls down the garbage disposal until each family would have enough.

Tae Joon mostly got sent back because he would knock glasses off of countertops like a cat until they realised that he wasn't going to stop.

Back then, Mila defied authority with every tool at her disposal, nothing would stop her from getting where or what she wanted. On the other hand, he was more or less passive-aggressive towards it.

He didn't regret any of it though. Those seemingly petty and trivial actions were what kept him and Mila together. She was always a few steps ahead, living as if she had never doubted, like she knew the outcome would always play in her favour so long as she acted first.

Growing up the way they did, that persistent feeling of powerlessness turned into recklessness. It was that teenage impulsiveness, seeing an opportunity and wondering if they could get away with it. Wondering if no one would ever find out.

For Mila, twenty-one years was a long time. Too long.

"She was pretty much a day away from getting certified," she assured him as they stood outside the apartment.

"Only a day," he repeated. It wasn't a question but he still repeated it like he was trying to convince himself that nothing was going to wrong.

It wasn't difficult to do that, even when Mila was wrong she somehow always ended up being in the right place at the right time. She had a way of always ending up on the right side.

Except for the lizard-led Syndicate theory, she had accepted that wasn't true. Although, she had tacked 'probably' onto the end of that sentence.

They were both a longshot from twenty-one. Mila was still a season away from eighteen and he had celebrated his birthday not even a week ago. She tended to make friends in all the strangest sort of places and he tended to always tag along behind her.

One of those friends happened to be a soul mark tattooist. Or more accurately,  _ almost  _ a tattooist. Mila hadn't been quite clear to him on the details or exactly why the tattooist hadn't been able to get her certification.

Mila was checking the chunky watch on her wrist, "it's fine that we're early right?"

He gave her a nod that he knew that she would see out of the corner of her eye. Absentmindedly, he tugged at the sleeve of his jacket that they'd been told to both wear. It wasn't a surprise, if this worked then they'd both be stuck wearing long sleeves for the next few  _ years.  _ It wasn't legal for them to do this at this age and neither of them were eager to experience the Syndicate's justice system first hand.

She checked the time once more before she knocked on the door to the apartment flat.

"How long is this meant to take?" Tae Joon asked her.

Mila shrugged, "she said maybe around an hour and a half, why are you worrying?"

"We have to get back before Ms Ticacek notices something's wrong," he told her.

"Just keep your sleeves down when we get back and we'll be fine," she mumbled. "It won't be for much longer anyway, we'll be able to move out by next year."

And wasn't that a thought. They'd move out together, of course, they were making just enough at work each for it to work. Ms Ticacek has assured them that there was no rush to leave but in the way that teenagers always were, they were restless to leave home.

Still, he grimaced when thinking of hiding it for so long. "She'll eventually figure it out," he murmured, "she always knows when something's wrong."

"Then why are you even here?" She huffed.

He was about to say something before the door of the apartment opened. Mila didn't waste any time, ducking into the place with a greeting and a grin while he followed a few steps behind her.

"The stuff's already set up in my studio," the tattooist said and only then Tae Joon realised that he hadn't even asked Mila for the older woman's name. "You bought the money with you right?"

Mila's hand reached to rest on the backpack that she had dragged off of her shoulder, "don't worry I've got it, I owe you for the discount."

"Don't even worry about it," she waved her off, "it's not like I'm getting money as an actual tattooist, I'll take what I can get."

In the future, he would look back at this moment a thousand times and scold himself for not asking enough questions, for not considering all the ways that it could go wrong when it seemed so obvious that it would.

But he didn't do any of that. He didn't try to convince Mila not to get one, he was far too curious with a fizzling excitement that it would work. If it worked, then they would both leave with something that was ultimately so personal and eternal to them. Something to be treasured, something to be kept close.

So, even though his thoughts had flittered past worries of what could go wrong, he had given up those thoughts and embraced the risk now.

Mila found a seat easily in the chair that had been set up and was already removing her watch and lifting the sleeve of her jumper.

She glanced towards the tattooist who was setting up her tools, "is this going to hurt much?"

"A bit," the tattooist murmured, not directly looking at either of them.

Mila considered that and shifted in her seat, "I've broken a few bones before."

"If I get it right, it shouldn't hurt as much as that at all," she answered simply enough. "It won't hurt as much as a regular tattoo, I'll tell you that much."

There wasn't anywhere else in the room to sit so Tae Joon remained standing next to his sister before he asked, "why doesn't it hurt as much?"

"Look do you want me to recite the Syndicate's long-winded monologue about it," the tattooist grumbled and sat down in the chair next to Mila, "or do you want a tattoo?"

"Tattoo," Mila said immediately and tapped the empty space on her wrist.

That was all the go-ahead that the woman needed before she began. If it did hurt, Mila didn't show any sign of it. For her fear of needles, she kept her eyes away while the tattooist worked away, slowly forming letters one by one that Tae Joon sounded out for her.

It took less long than he expected for the tattoo to be finished which the woman owed it to being a shorter name. When it was finished, Mila was left with two syllables made of a bold font that made up a name that she mouthed over and over again.

"Hey, make sure that you don't pick at that," the woman told her. Her tone was stern but greater than that was the easy-going smile on her face. "I'll text you care instructions later so you better follow them."

Mila's words came out rushed, "yes, yes, of course, I will, seriously I owe you so much for this."

"Don't even worry about thanking me," the tattooist said, "I'm just glad that I have an opportunity to do what I wanted. The only thing you need to do is keep this between us."

"Of course," she agreed.

Then, the woman lifted her eyes in his direction, the relaxed smile still on her face when asked, "your turn next?"

He didn't hesitate to take Mila's seat when she made room for him. Instead, she leaned against the chair, he knew that she'd be too squirmish to watch the needle but he smiled slightly in appreciation of the gesture.

Later that night, he would run through all the signs that should have made him stop when she started the tattoo.

Whenever he glanced back at Mila, there was a nervous expression on her face when she tried to sound out the appearing letters. He didn't try to sound it out himself, didn't even glance at her working and instead on the blank wall ahead, desperate for time to go faster. It hurt too. Mila hadn't shown that much pain but he tried to justify that as her playing tough. He didn't ask the woman to take a break.

When he finally looked down at it, he didn't even see a name.

Mila's voice didn't manage to drown out his thoughts although he knew that she was speaking, maybe yelling at the woman. However, the name on his wrist was louder, if it could be even called a name.

The mark on his wrist was a mess of ink stains and scratches. He was entirely focused on finding  _ something  _ within the ruined mark on his wrist. It took a few moments of tracing the faded and scrappy lines that merged with the splotches of ink before he could even make out a letter. Even then, he wasn't sure if his dazed mind was trying to make something out of nothing.

Tae Joon couldn't even tell if he had a name.

"You said this was completely safe!" Mila snapped.

"It is," the woman argued, "like I said, this rarely happens to anyone. Just let me have another look at it-"

Mila's laugh came out cold, "there's no way I'm letting touch my brother after you just fucked this up."

His fingers were still tracing over the mark when Mila snatched him by the wrist, dragging him out of room with her other hand on her backpack. He didn't say anything, even when his instincts were telling him to go back to the tattooist and desperately seek for an answer that would fix this.

But he couldn't, not when the icy pain from the mark was chasing through his veins, rising into his lungs and suffocating him.

It wasn't just the pain telling him that something was wrong, it was Mila's restlessness as she dragged him into a nearby ally with a shaking hand. In between her steps she apologised over and over again. She never apologised, if she ever did something wrong she would slide him her slice of dessert and they would call it even.

She never said sorry, never had a reason to, never did so in between cracked sobs and threats of how she was going to rip off that tattooist's head for what she did. He didn't want to hear 'sorry' right now.

Tae Joon lifted his wrist and asked coolly, "do you see a name?"

She flinched and started chewing at her lip, "maybe there's a way we can fix this, we'll find another tattooist, someone who knows-"

"Do you see a name?"

She paused for a moment before she took a step forward to take his wrist in her hand. At an inspection, she didn't say anything and instead lifted his wrist closer to her face to properly see.

"It might just need some time before-" she began but stopped when she caught the expression on his face. With a wince, she looked back down at the tattoo, "I'm not sure, that sort of looks like an 'l' or that bit there could be an 'm'-"

"I didn't see either of those at all," he stopped her and drew back his hand.

Mila could only stare at him uselessly, "look I knew we got out of there pretty quickly but she was saying that it does occasionally happen with people. Maybe she screwed it up or maybe it just happened, I don't know."

"And what happens with those people?" Tae Joon asked although he could already imagine the answer.

"There can be a few different reasons," she said slowly. "It can happen if a person isn't born with a soulmate or if they died but even then sometimes a new connection can happen later on. Uh, she also said that maybe the other person could be born sickly or something happened that weakened the connection…"

Her voice dissipated into nothingness as his eyes locked back onto his wrist. He wanted to believe that it had been a mistake. That the woman had just screwed up the mark because of her inexperience and sloppy work. It would make it so much easier to believe that, it would be so easy to hate her and blame her for the wrecked mark that laid on his wrist.

But he had never made a habit of choosing easy choices. Maybe she had simply uncovered what was always going to be his future. Shouldn't he even thank her then? After all, at least he knew that there wasn't a point in waiting for anyone. He wasn't like Mila, he wasn't charismatic or endearing. He was never going to have what she would but he could - no he would have to live with that.

"Are you listening to me?" She asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He blinked away those swirling thoughts. He had a sister in Mila and a mother in Ms Ticacek, it had always been like that and he hadn't just been 'fine', he was already content with his life.

"Look I know that it's hard right now," she continued, "but once we're twenty-one we could wait a bit and then go to an actual certified tattooist and they might be able to fix it."

"In Gaea?" He asked with a laugh although it came out humourlessly.

Mila pressed her lips together into a thin line and he knew exactly what she was thinking. It would be impossible in a place like Gaea, where everyone had ready and open eyes and secrets were always owed to the Syndicate. That was part of the reason that he had followed Mila here, where there was an opportunity to have something all to himself.

But in end, he felt foolish thinking that this would work, this only felt like a punishment for wanting what he could never have. He just wanted to forget this and move on.

However, Mila wouldn't let him, "there's always another option, we always find another option-"

"Mila I don't want to talk about it anymore can we just leave now?" He asked, cutting her off.

"We're not going to just never talk about this again!" She snapped. "Look you're my brother and you deserve to a soulmate!"

He took a few steps back to lean against the wall and said, "people who 'deserve' things don't get other people as a reward, they get given cats."

"But-"

"This doesn't have to be a bad thing," he told her but it was obvious how weak his voice sounded, "it just makes things simpler."

She rubbed her thumb against her temple, "I really thought this would turn out well."

Tae Joon did too.

He didn't say that however, he only told her, "it did. You've got a mark and now I know something that I was inevitably going to find out in a few years."

Mila struggled for a moment to say anything, starting to speak but then pausing and restarting several times over. Eventually, she tried a smile and offered, "does this mean we can get a cat when we move out?"

"What?"

"You said people who deserve things get cats," she explained, "so let's get a cat."

He stared at her unimpressed, "you know I was joking right?"

She laughed in response, that sincere grin back in place, "I'll make a crazy cat lady out of you yet Tae Joon."

"Mhm," he agreed simply because he was glad that the conversation was shifting, "if we can even get one before Ms Ticacek kills us for doing this."

"Aw she's not going to kill us," she said with a wave, "she loves us way too much."

That was proven true enough a few days later when Mila had raised her hand to fix her ponytail and her sleeve had drooped low enough that Ms Ticacek had caught sight of the mark.

Her frustration hadn't lasted as long as her pity did, which seemed to permeate the orphanage for following days that drew into weeks. If either Mila or her started the conversation again, he always found a way to shift the topic onto something else. As far as he let them know, he'd made peace with it.

After that, Mila never bought up her mark around him. Still, he knew that every time they went out, she would keep an ear out to hear the name on her wrist.

What she didn't know was that every morning afterwards, he would check the mark on his wrist to see if the shambling ink had given way to a name. And every morning, he inevitably felt the same crushing disappointment.

When Mila went missing, he stopped checking.

-

The Apex games weren't as they appeared to the public but Tae Joon had expected that. However, he hadn't expected the way that the other legends meshed together. He'd imagined being matched with vicious killers, the worst that the outlands had to offer. He hadn't expected the upbeat robot or a woman who seemed to bend reality.

So he had kept his distance, that fact surprised him when he'd been dragged to Mirage's bar by Loba Andrade, the newest competitor with the potential to be a threat. He'd listened to her spiel about treasures from another reality while he'd eyed the other legends who ate up the story.

He had planned to stay involved for now and had kept quiet while the legends had discussed their plans without Loba after their first trip. He hadn't left the bar yet, opting instead to make his way to one of the back rooms to further inspect the first piece they'd collected.

Tae Joon had made his way there while hoping for some quiet while he analysed the piece. But when did he ever get his way?

"Can you believe that they want  _ me  _ to go on a date with her?" Octane complained, a tone that Tae Joon was beginning to get very acquainted with.

He shifted the Gemini Core over in his hands while he murmured under his breath, "as you've reminded us for the fifth time."

"It doesn't have to be a bad thing," the other member in the room, Wattson, told him. "It means that they trust you to do something really important."

Wattson had already been examining the object when he had entered and a few minutes later the other legend had shuffled into the room. As far as Tae Joon could tell, he was trying to stay out of Lifeline's and Bangalore's sight.

She was quiet at least and he was thankful to have her to draw away Octane's attention. Tae Joon had never been on the same team as the daredevil legend but it was impossible to ignore his presence from the litter of jump pads that he left around every game.

Octane just laughed at Wattson's suggestion, "hey if it's that good then take my place, please."

"I don't think that I really have your charm to make it work," she said.

Tae Joon almost scoffed at that, he had no idea what she meant by 'charm'. Then again, the same woman had also seemed to go out of her way to befriend Caustic so he wasn't going to even attempt to understand her criteria for 'charm'.

"Ugh, why couldn't Yoko just have sked Lifeline if she wanted a drink instead," he grumbled and his hand reached upwards to scratch at the cap on his head. "Hey wait a sec, what's your name again?"

It took him a moment to realise that Octane was referring to him.

When he did, he didn't lift he head to answer, "Crypto."

"Nah, nah I mean your actual name," he said.

He still didn't look up, "why?"

"'Cause we're all hanging out in the bathroom of Mirage's bar," he told him like it was the most obvious conclusion in the world. "So, I reckon we're close enough that I don't gotta call people by their stage names."

"Hm," he barely hummed in vague agreement, hoping that he'd turn that hyperactive attention back onto Wattson.

But Octane apparently wasn't one to let up so easily.

He was tapping his metal foot against the ground while he spoke, "look, what if I call you that thing that Elliott does. Ah shit, I swear I remember him saying something. What was it - Crippy?"

Tae Joon squeezed his eyes shut and held a long breath. He was beginning to regret ever coming into this bathroom instead of just leaving.

Octane gave an inhale that he knew was only going to followed by more goading. Instead of giving him the chance, he said, "It's Hyeon."

"Finally, that wasn't that hard," Octane said and he could tell that he was smiling behind that mask. "So, wanna take my place?"

"What?"

"On the date!" He reminded him. "C'mon keep up with what's happening."

At least Tae Joon had the dignity to say that he hadn't looked up yet, "no."

"Aw you'd be great compadre," he promised him, "chicks dig the whole mysterious thing you've got going on."

If Mila was here, he knew that she'd have a dozen different points to disprove that. One's that he'd mostly learnt off by heart by how often she'd repeated them.

To his relief, Wattson interrupted, "it surely cannot be that bad."

"Ugh and it's going to be one of those fancy places too," Octane groaned and rocked back, knocking his head on the bathroom wall behind him. "We couldn't just get takeout?"

"It'll only be a few hours and then you can come right back here to help us out," she assured him but he only knocked his head back again.

Tae Joon wasn't eager to take part in Loba's plans. Every legend apart of the plan had their affiliations and every interaction with them was another possibility of being found out.

Still, he hardly had a choice.

Loba seemed to been gathering secrets about the other legends that she had waved in front of Caustic and Lifeline like a red flag in front of a bull. He didn't want to test her luck if she knew anything about him or draw her attention if she didn't.

Then there was the other reason. As begrudging as it was to admit, his sources had begun to dry up. The games themselves were an opportunity to stick a foot in a few of those doors but this could provide him with another angle. He'd be a fool to step back.

Especially when it seemed that they may have an opening in Hammond Robotics. An opening that Octane was ceaselessly complaining about.

"Do we even know if this thing is worth it?" Octane asked.

Against his better judgement, he responded, "it seems to be one core of a Gemini configuration."

Wattson nodded in agreement, "I know that they can be quite delicate, we can only hope that the other half is intact."

"I'm not one to say slow down but can you run that by me again?" he asked them.

"Essentially, it maintains the memory functions," Wattson told him.

He clicked his tongue, "yeah, but I wanna know if this thing is worth it. I mean the journey's great as long as I can stretch my legs but I wanna know if the reward is gonna be even sweeter."

"We can't know yet," she said.

"But you gotta have some guesses right?" He asked. "C'mon what do you reckon H - um, uh-"

Tae Joon was really regretting entering this room. "Hyeon," he reminded him.

"That's the one," he said with a snap of his fingers, "Hyeon what do you reckon we're making?"

He turned his eyes back to parts in his hands. He knew what this part was sometimes used in, even if he'd only had it in his hands for a few hours, none of the research that he'd done had put him at ease.

He didn't tell either of them that, instead he said, "I won't make any assumptions until we find more parts."

"Ugh you science people are so boring," Octane groaned and the pace of his tapping foot increased.

Tae Joon and Wattson looked at each other for a moment, as if silently deciding that it wasn't worth lecturing Octane about the difference in their fields when they doubted that he'd absorb any of it.

Rather, he fought not to roll his eyes and reminded him, "you're free to leave."

"And give Che an opportunity to hound me? No thanks."

Wattson gave him a relaxed smile. "We'll be able to tell you soon enough," she promised him, "hopefully the next time we head out should give us a clearer picture."

Tae Joon was beginning to suspect that he could count minutes by Octane's groans which was only proven true when he groaned again in response to her.

"But Bangalore's saying that she's not ready to head out before doing some old IMC recon tactics," he argued. "Doesn't she know that the best way to keep an eye out is getting down there yourself?"

She simply clapped her fingers together, "that means it'll be even better to look forward to! Don't forget that we still have the games to fight in during the meantime."

"Sure but why even have the appetizer when we can go straight to the main course?" He asked, the complaining tone coming back.

Wattson just shrugged sheepishly, "I don't think that I mind. That place isn't my favourite."

"What you don't think it's fun?" He gasped like he was personally offended. "Shadows around every corner and prowlers leaping up at you doesn't make your heart beat?"

"Not in the way that I like it to," she admitted with a slight giggle, "I prefer my heart in one piece."

Tae Joon heard the tapping of the metal foot stop and he looked up at the daredevil, finally properly taking his concentration off of the Gemini core since the first time he'd been in the room.

Octane's voice was coated in a grin when he asked, "how about you then new guy?"

He ignored the fact that he had been part of the games for quite a while now and that he was fairly certain that Octane was only saying 'new guy' because he had forgotten his name again.

"What about me?" Tae Joon asked.

Octane gave an exaggerated sigh, "are you going to keep asking me a question every time I ask you one? Pay attention already."

He gave himself a moment to remember what he had asked before he answered, "no I don't find it fun."

But he had to admit that fighting prowlers were a welcome relief from the games.

The first game had been such a rush that he had barely registered every shot that he landed, he'd let instinct and the rhythm of his teammates take over. However, in every game since then, that instinct and adrenaline were starting to recede.

Once he'd gotten used to the map layout, the fights had changed from rushed skirmishes into calculated executions by his team. With his drone, he stalked, measured and calculated every moment of each fight and fought them entirely planned and conscious.

At first, he had been able to ignore the growing blood and thicker things that gathered on his boots during the matches. He was always rushing, running to the zone or into another fight and he had no time to consider the bloodstains marring his jacket. But now, every measured action led to a rush of thoughts that had been buried by the adrenaline. Those perfect plans that his team would pull off meant that fights ended quicker now and he had more time to spare. More time to notice the blood and muck gathering on his gear.

When he joined the games, he had thought that it would get easier, he didn't expect for the opposite to happen.

"Who knew we had so many killjoys here," Octane tutted, "guess you'll have to find your fun in the games then."

It had been a long time since Tae Joon had needed to fight the urge to flinch.

Wattson had taken the Gemini Core while the two had been talking and he desperately itched to have it back. He wanted to stop concentrating on Octane's words. He wanted to narrow his world back down into a task.

His head snapped upwards when the door to bathroom slammed open and gave way to Lifeline who looked utterly unimpressed.

"I knew you hadn't gone home Silva!" She exclaimed and Taejoon didn't miss how Octane seemed to shrink into himself against the wall. "C'mon Bangalore wants to go over everything with you again."

From the way that she moved with determination and took Octane by the arm, Tae Joon might have thought that she was the hot rod of the two of them. He didn't say anything to either of them while she dragged him out and now Tae Joon could be thankful that he wouldn't be prodded at anymore.

A few minutes of silence went by as Wattson continued to examine the object and he scrolled through the information on his laptop.

Even though she spoke softly, he almost jolted when he heard her say, "he's sort of a wild card isn't he?"

Tae Joon didn't respond to that, opting to keep his focus on the screen ahead of him instead. He would hardly call Octane a wild card, as persistent as he was, Tae Joon knew that he would be predictable. He'd done his research on every legend, Octane was no exception to that rule and every moment of his life seemed like an incline that he was destined to roll down on.

Tae Joon wouldn't need to worry about Octane. After all, he was certain that he wasn't going to change any of his plans.


	2. Chapter Two

The floors of the Map Room were covered with bullet casings and blood. Tae Joon could only owe so much to skill before he had to admit that he wasn't entirely sure how they ended up being the last squad alive in there.

He had done his fair share of fighting along with his squad. Lifeline had taken down two with her shock sticks before she'd even picked up a gun and he'd seen at least one person that been catapulted off the edge by Octane's jump pad.

After that, he needed a moment to breathe and heal. However, not everyone in his squad had the same concerns.

"So what's all the Korean mean?" Octane had to ask for the third time since Tae Joon had ignored him the first two times.

He took another syringe from the ground and said, "get a dictionary."

"Why would it say 'get a dictionary'?" He asked and at this point, Tae Joon couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

He lifted his syringe to his left wrist for a moment before realising his mistake and swapped the syringe into his left hand instead. He was right-handed and he still hadn't gotten used to injecting the syringe with his opposite hand but it was a precaution that was necessary to take.

After all, on his left wrist still remained the wrecked soulmate mark that he had gotten all those years ago. He wasn't going to reveal that to any legend or camera because of a slip of a syringe. He'd taken other precautions too, his jacket sleeve always stayed shoved down even though he'd wrapped a thick black band over the mark on his wrist.

When he'd had his facial implants done, there had been a chance to have that mark erased. Yet he hadn't even considered it before he'd rejected the offer. Maybe the only thing holding him back had been the fact that he knew that Mila would kick his ass if she found out that he'd gotten rid of it.

If she was alive that was.

"I mean I dig the place," Octane continued, "makes it even better when we get half a dozen squads dropping with us."

"Hm," he hummed because he had learned that Octane spoke more if he thought someone was entirely ignoring him.

He was bouncing from side to side when he asked him, "so when are you going to let me have a go with the drone?"

"What?" He asked in a flat tone that clearly meant 'no'.

"Che won't let me use D.O.C to fly into battle so…" Octane continued like that was a convincing argument. "What if I just stick some grenades to it?

Tae Joon discarded the syringe and started heading to the holo-map, "that would destroy it."

"Yeah but think of the mayhem you could make if it did!"

He fought not to roll his eyes and instead worked to activate the scanner.

Octane didn't seem concerned by that at all so he finished charging his shields and already had one foot out the door while he spoke, "point is that was an amazing fight! Now let's see if any of you slowpokes can beat me to Repulsor-"

"Hold on," he raised his voice to warn him before the daredevil could fully slip out the door.

He shook his head but stayed in sight, "no way, we already grabbed the meds-"

"Which I am carrying, you're welcome," Lifeline interrupted him as she entered the room.

"Yes thank you Saint Che," he grumbled, "but-"

Tae Joon wasn't going to let him go so easily, "I haven't activated the map yet."

"The what?"

He could practically hear frown on her face when she said, "the scanner Silva."

"The what?"

"I thought you said you'd landed here before!" She exclaimed and started heading over to the door where he was.

It was hard to tell behind the mask, but Tae Joon thought that he might have winced, "yeah but I don't need a map to see where I'm going, so…"

"You can wait for  _ one  _ minute," she told him.

"They'll be gone from Repulsor by then!"

Tae Joon had barely spoken to Lifeline but he could appreciate that she knew when to put her foot down. Too many legends were desperate to run into fight after fight and he doubted that he'd be able to convince Octane to stay still by himself.

" _ One minute _ ," she repeated before she turned to him, "where are they?"

"There are two squads on the eastern side of Repulsor," he answered her after a moment.

Octane pumped his first and his foot tapped at the ground excitedly, "no point in wasting time then-"

"We're heading to Water Treatment," Tae Joon interrupted him before he could even get a step further.

"Hold up-"

But Lifeline only nodded and said, "I'll use the charge tower here first, then we'll get going."

He considered that for a moment but eventually nodded, "the two squads should be too busy fighting to try and stop you."

"Hey!" Octane snapped and waved his hand. "Quick talking over me! What's the point in wasting time at Water Treatment?"

The excited wave of his hand only stuck out because Tae Joon noticed the brown bandana tied around his wrist beneath his much larger tattoo. It seemed that most of the legends tended to keep their marks covered, even Lifeline who seemed unfazed to criticism had her mark covered by her longer than standard medical gloves.

The information couldn't be used for much and although he'd seen cases of blackmail, they were often fruitless.

Turning his attention back Octane he told him, "the next ring is there."

"And?"

"And we're getting ahead of the rest," Lifeline filled in.

Octane's hand was rapping at the door now, "best way to get ahead of the rest is to get rid of them."

"We're here to win," Tae Joon reminded him, "not to entertain you."

He faked a yawn and stretched his legs, "aw, why you gotta be such a downer Hi- Uh…Ho…Uh, what was it again?"

"Crypto."

"No way you told me the other night!"

The scowl on his face was apparent when he told him, "then the least you could do is remember it."

"I do remember it! It's on the tip of my tongue!"

With a sigh Lifeline nudged his metal shin with her foot, "quit arguing, Silva grab the longbow upstairs and we'll camp out Water Treatment for now."

"Camping?" Octane whined. "In a place that no one's gonna be?"

"It's the best way of preventing getting third partied," Tae Joon explained, noting the enemy locations of the map before it disappeared.

He snorted, "it's also the best way for me to go nuts."

"C'mon you're not running off by yourself," she told him.

Slowly, his head turned to look at both of them each for a second before he looked to the door behind him and gave a slow step in that direction.

"Silva!" She yelled and grabbed him by the shoulder to turn him back around. "Don't you even think about it for a moment."

Octane was already opening his mouth to complain to the both of them and deciding that he was going to end this now, Tae Joon spoke first.

"We'll follow you to Repulsor-"

He was already applauding and making vaguely rude gestures to Lifeline, "you're the best hacker man!"

Lifeline looked like she was ready to throw the two of them off the cliffside. She gestured to him with a hand when she asked, "are you joking?"

So Tae Joon finished, "-if you an answer one question that you already know the answer to."

Octane laughed for a second like he thought that Tae Joon might have been joking but eventually straightened up to a deadly stillness. 

"I'm not the kinda guy that backs down from a challenge," he warned him. "C'mon, ask me already so we can get to Repulsor quicker."

"What's my name?"

He seemed to go even stiller and Tae Joon thought he heard Lifeline snort.

Tae Joon was certain that Octane was staring behind those goggles when he asked flatly, "what?"

"You said you knew it," he said with shrug, "I already told it to you."

Octane sighed, "you're as petty as Che."

"You're going to call  _ me  _ the petty one?" She snapped which Octane seemed to be choosing to ignore.

"Hurry up," Tae Joon told him.

Octane hummed, "ok, ok, ok, I got this. Starts with an 'H'….Or maybe it was 'R?'"

"Oh my god," Lifeline murmured and covered her eyes with a heavy hand.

He continued thinking aloud, "it was a short name…Korean…Wait was it Korean?"

"I'm not giving any hints," Tae Joon said.

He watched as the smaller legend seemed to eye him down through his goggles. After a moment, Octane perked up and snapped his fingers and Tae Joon felt dread begin to creep into his veins as he opened to his mouth to say-

"Harold."

Tae Joon wasn't used to being speechless. He kept staring at Octane, wondering if it was a joke and that he was going to correct himself but he only returned the stare.

"That's the hill you're gonna die on?" Lifeline asked exasperated.

"Yup."

She sighed, "it's definitely not Harold."

Octane turned back to Tae Joon to ask, "are you sure?"

"That means you're coming with us to Water Treatment," she told him and tugged him towards the western door as she started to head out.

"Aw c'mon, just tell her that your name's Harold," he begged him.

"I'm not going to do that."

He huffed, "lame."

From beyond the doors, they heard her call out, "let's go slowpokes!"

"Hey, that's my line!" Shouted Octane, already chasing after Lifeline.

Tae Joon made his way out of the building just in time to see her roll her eyes when Octane surpassed her and started to roll down the hill.

There was a growing grin on her face when she began to increase her stride to chase after him and called out, "get over yourself, let's see if we can't scare out the squads still lingering around there!"

He wasn't looking forward to figuring out how to occupy Octane for the rest of the game.

-

Tae Joon seldom visited the firing range within the regular hours of the day. At that time, it was always occupied by other legends or Syndicate employees and he couldn't practice without being hyper-aware of every stare and glance in his direction.

That didn't mean that he never visited it and this time made for one of the few occasions that he'd gone out of his way to get there. He had been staring at his laptop until he'd lost track of time and began to wince at any sign of light. Even though he was mentally exhausted by now, his body still itched with energy to burn.

The practice range wasn't open to many past midnight but legends like him with an access card had an easy enough entry available. It was cold and even with his jacket and an extra shirt that he wore underneath, he couldn't shake the chill of the night. There was little brightness at this time, only a few fluorescent lights near the practice range that were swallowed by the dark. A smart enough choice considering that the Syndicate likely didn't want any of their legends slipping on grenades.

Tae Joon had just made it down to the heavy ammo when he felt something grab his ankle.

His leg immediately kicked out by reflex and he managed to swallow most of the scream that he made.

"Motherfu-" He heard from beneath him. "Watts you almost broke my jaw!"

This wasn't happening. Tae Joon didn't say anything and when he looked at the ground beneath him, he could barely see anything but darkness.

"You got a mean kick but I owe you one," the voice continued, one that was getting unfortunately familiar, "Che wasn't picking up and…You're not Wattson."

Tae Joon drew Hack from his back and activated a simple command before it's 'eye' brightened, using it as a simple flashlight as it floated behind him.

"Shit that thing is bright," Octane swore from the ground beneath him which he could now see. "Did Watts tell you to come here?"

In a way, he was relieved to see that it was just Octane. The feeling of him grabbing his ankle had been far too alien and it had reminded him of the feeling of seaweed curling around his foot when he'd once went to beach years and years ago.

"No," he asked and his eyes narrowed, "why would she?"

Octane smacked his forehead with a hand and grumbled, "I wear these thick goggles and I swear that I'm observant than you."

Tae Joon didn't respond to that. Instead, he lowered Hack to look around Octane which was when it became immediately clear that his legs had been entirely removed from the locking mechanism above his knees.

He didn't want to deal with this but he still found himself asking, "where are they?"

"Ha, I was just tinkering with them a bit," he began, "guess I didn't quite put them on tight enough 'cause when I hit my jump pad, I went one way and my legs went a whole other way."

"Where are they?" Tae Joon asked again, his voice more serious.

Octane looked around the dark of the firing range, "uh…I think either that way or that way."

That would have been useful if Octane hadn't pointed to opposite directions.

He stopped himself from sighing and instead asked, "how long have you been here?"

"Kinda hard to tell," he said. "At first I tried finding them myself but…That didn’t work. Then I called Che and Watts a while back…But I wasn't checking the time…And then my phone ran out of battery."

"Hm."

Octane dragged himself a bit closer to him, which was frankly a disturbing sight in the dark while he said, "hey don't 'hm' me! They always answer my calls and it's way too early for them to be asleep."

"It's almost 3am," he informed him.

"It is?" Octane exclaimed. " _ Mierda _ , I've been rolling around here for a while. Wait, then what are you still doing up?"

He decidedly ignored that in favour of wondering aloud, "you've been crawling around here for…"

"I wasn't just going to sit around the place," he filled in and lifted an arm to flex, "these babies still work."

Tae Joon looked around the practice range. As much as he'd rather not deal with this situation…He couldn't exactly just walk away.

He looked back down at the other legend and offered, "I could call someone."

"Nah, they'll already be asleep," Octane decided, "just use your drone."

He shook his head, "your legs aren't notable enough for the drone to the mark their position."

"You gotta get a better drone then," he huffed. "Trust me, I made sure that everyone would notice these babies."

Tae Joon wasn't about to bother going into the intricacies of the programming his drone had gone through to be able to mark human and robotic targets, a boundary which his legs would not fall into.

Octane didn't seem to want an explanation either because he simply stretched out his arms and said, "pick me up."

"No."

"Aw c'mon, four eyes are better than two," he explained, "plus I saw which way they went."

He shifted the weight onto his other side, "I didn't say I was going to help you."

Octane's shoulders seemed to tense up before he rushed to ask, "hang on, you're not leaving me out here right?"

It had crossed his mind. He didn't come here to babysit Octane and fix his problems. Still, he wasn't purposefully cruel. It wasn't like he was going to practice his aim while octane crawled around in the dark which was a rather morbid thought.

He eventually made his decision, "fine."

"Awesome!" Octane yelled out loud enough that even though it was late, Tae Joon was concerned that someone would overhear them. "Duck down so I can hold onto your neck-"

He interrupted him immediately, "I'm not picking you up."

"Dammit."

Octane was about to say something else but Tae Joon was already heading in one of the directions that Octane had pointed to earlier with Hack flying behind him to light his way. The first area turned up nothing and even in the dark, Tae Joon took time to search the nooks and crannies where the legs might have been stuck in.

The longer he wandered around, the longer he begun to feel more pessimistic that the legs were never going to turn up. Eventually, he figured out that this wasn't going to work.

When he headed back to Octane he didn't grab his ankle this time, instead, he groaned when the Hack's torchlight flashed directly into his eyes and yelped, "hey stop flashing that thing at me!"

Hack's light lowered so it wasn't focusing directly on him and Tae Joon said, "they weren't where you said they were."

"They are!" Octane insisted. "You're just not looking right."

"I didn't come here to fix your problems," he said coldly. "Give me someone's number and I'll call them."

His hands rubbed over the goosebumps on his skin and while shivering said, "who remembers peoples' numbers anymore. You know you can put contacts in your phone right? Besides, no one's awake."

Tae Joon felt like he wanted to pace around or fiddle with Hack before deciding. He didn't have that choice right now, not with Octane whose every word seemed to keep him on his feet.

"Seriously," Octane said, the tone of his voice sobering out, "my legs are gone. How heavy could I be? You gotta have some muscle under that jacket."

At this point, Tae Joon was fairly certain that if he left Octane without legs in the middle of the night here, then half a dozen legends would personally hunt him down next game.

He set Hack to trail behind him and decided with a sigh, "fine."

"Yes!"

"If this takes longer than five minutes-"

Octane's hands were drumming against the ground excitedly as he rambled, "Yeah, I know, I know! Now c'mon, nobody slows the Octrain down!"

"Unless I drop you," Tae Joon muttered under his breath.

It was definitely an uncomfortable experience getting Octane onto his back. Tae Joon ended up having to hunch his back to compensate for Octane's arms that continuously kept yanking on his neck. As much as he wanted to snap at him, the smaller legend couldn't exactly help it since without his legs he couldn't properly rest any weight on Tae Joon's hips. The saving grace was that at least Octane was much lighter than he expected to be even without his legs.

Tae Joon couldn't remember the last time that someone had touched him that hadn't been trying to kill him. He still remembered the time that he'd almost broken Mirage's arm when he'd rested a hand on his shoulder before his first match. It wasn't a comfortable feeling.

Octane kept his head up as the two awkwardly made their way around the practice range. He was glad enough that the smaller legend wasn't leaning his head on his shoulder. He didn't think that he'd be able to deal with him breathing over his shoulder.

"Head that way," Octane told him with a gesture of his hand that Tae Joon only vaguely saw.

He slowly started walking in that direction, however, he said, "I went that way last time."

"You didn't have a decent look then," he told him.

He felt his eye twitch, "yes I did."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure," he snapped and turned his head to glare at him, "I specialise in search and surveillance. If something can be found, then there it is no possibility that I will not-"

"Hey! They're over there!" Octane interrupted cheerfully.

_ Fuck _ .

Octane didn't seem bothered gloating over the fact that he'd proven him wrong, instead, he simply slipped off of his shoulders onto the cool ground. That was all Tae Joon needed to head over to collect the legs which had landed on the metal framing of one of the banners that had turned off.

He was surprised that Octane had even noticed it since Hack's light hadn't focused on that area for too long. Although he supposed that Octane would have a more careful eye for his own legs than Tae Joon would.

When he bought them back, Octane's arms were outstretched, making little grabby motions for the legs that he was all too glad to hand back to him.

"Can you get them back on?" Tae Joon asked him.

"My babies don't get wrecked so easily," he explained with an easy hum, "as long as they're in one piece then they'll fit like a glove."

He waited a few more moments until he could tell that Octane was able to attach them back on as easily as he claimed. When he decided that he was fine he told him, "I'm leaving then."

"Wait up," Octane said, "the only reason people come here at night is to blow off some steam. Let's grab some peacekeepers and wreck some target dummies!"

"I'm already exhausted," was all he said before he started heading to the exit.

_ You exhaust me _ , didn't need to be said.

"One more thing!" He called out as he finally stood up.

Tae Joon wasn't sure what possessed him to turn around but he did.

"I never lose twice!" Octane promised. "What's your name?"

There wasn't any reason to indulge him on something that Tae Joon was fairly sure that he was going to forget.

But it was late and he didn't want to draw this out for any longer.

"Hyeon."

He saw Octane nod in the dark and repeat, "Hyeon, Hyeon, Hyeon, got it memorised now. I owe you one for this!"

That was something to consider as Tae Joon left the practice range. Octane was connected to Silva Pharmaceuticals who in turn had a few vague connections to Hammond Robotics. Still, that wasn't anything he could manage think of coherently now. All he could think of was collapsing into his bed.

That was until he finally reached his room and couldn't help but wonder if Octane was still out there in the almost pitch black practice range with his only company being the expressionless dummies.

It kept Tae Joon awake for longer than he would admit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mildly annoyed by you turning into omg I'm love with you is just the whole thing of this fic and I also can't wait to write about Crypto's cat because I think that he's the real backbone of Apex (even if we have never actually seen him)


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me introducing Meow: this cat is gonna do for cryptane what Melog did for catradora

Mirage's bar was far too small to get any peace and quiet. During the first meeting, Mirage had knocked the urinals out of the men's bathroom and they'd settled for that. However, after Wattson had been attacked, Lifeline had heckled Mirage into clearing out one of his stock rooms instead.

Mirage had asked her if the men's room would still work if the urinals stayed removed and in response, she'd given him a look that he'd seen on Mystik's face one too many times to be comfortable with. So he'd cleaned out that stock room that he kept locked during regular hours along with taping up a sign that said 'secret legend biz' which had been reserved for Wattson and the artifact.

Tae Joon had hoped that he would be able to work on the artifact alone there. However, that plan had been completely disregarded when Octane had come back covered in blood and missing his legs.

Lifeline and Gibraltar hadn't let anyone inside during those first few hours of the night. It was only until after most of the legends had already cleared out to get some rest that the two had finally left the room.

When Tae Joon had headed into the room to see the artifact, Lifeline had grabbed him by the arm and had given him a sharp warning that he'd barely registered over the digging of her nails into his skin. Gibraltar left, although she had simply taken a blanket and found a booth to sleep in at the bar.

So he was left in the room in mostly silence. It was unnerving to be in a room where Octane wasn't the point of attention and it almost made his skin itch with the feeling that maybe he was actually watching him while he worked on the artifact.

Still, that didn't mean there was no sound in the room. D.O.C continued to support Octane in his sleep, drowning the room in a light wash of blue and the hum of medical equipment. And then there was the third member of the room who seemed determined to harmonise with the humming sounds of D.O.C with his purring.

In his defence, Tae Joon hadn't made an effort to make friends here. Especially anyone who would be willing to look after his cat after he'd broken his paw.

Even though he had been hesitant, he'd seen a vet under his alias who had told him that the cat would be able to stay home without supervision as long as he wasn’t a troublemaker. So of course, Tae Joon couldn't leave him at home.

He hadn't stopped purring since he'd arrived at the bar which had ultimately made it pointless that Tae Joon had gone to the effort of swaddling the cat crate in dark cloth to try to pass it off as a toolkit. He doubted that he'd fooled anyone, especially since he'd caught Mirage trying to sneak crushed peanuts under the cloth earlier.

He had been about to finish his inspection of the newest artifact fragment when the sound of Octane coughing made his hands jolt. Tae Joon froze, he wasn't exactly sure what to do but there was no pretending that Octane wasn't awake, maybe he should get Lifeline downstairs.

"Che?" When he spoke, Octane's voice came out gravelly. "Ajay?"

He pushed himself up from the table he was sitting at and answered him, "not quite."

Octane blinked a few times in the blue light of the room as he took him in and after a moment, gave him a lazy smile. Then it struck Tae Joon that it had been the first time that he'd actually seen him smile. The mask, goggles and cap that always covered him had been discarded, leaving his face and hair uncovered.

The first thing he noticed was his hair that was stark against the blue light. At his first look, he thought it was simply black before noticed the green among it, as if he hadn't dyed it that colour for a while. It was hard to tell in this light but he thought he might have noticed tan lines around his goggles.

"What's the time?" Octane grumbled, lifting an arm over his eyes to block out the light.

"About two in the morning," he told him, "I'll wake up Lifeline."

The arm on his face lifted, "Che's here? Don't bother waking her up. I probably kept her busy for a while putting me back together."

That didn't sit quite right with him, especially considering that Lifeline had warned him to wake her up if anything at all happened.

Although, maybe she didn't need to know, "do you need anything?"

"You mean like meds?" He asked. "Nah, but I'd kill for some water."

That was easy enough to get within the room. He wasn't sure whether it was Gibraltar or Lifeline who had left it behind but nonetheless he was thankful. Octane took it gladly, downing it as quickly as he could and wiping the dribble of water off of his chin afterwards.

"Ah, that hit the spot," he groaned and let the empty bottle fall to the floor. Still, Tae Joon didn't miss the way his hand scratched at the cover in front of him. He wasn't familiar with the effects of stim but he knew enough to recognise that he was seeing it.

That smile pasted its way back onto his face, "toss my legs this way will ya'."

Tae Joon chewed the inside of his cheek, "I can't do that."

"You grabbed them last time," Octane said, "can't you do it just once more for me?”

"Last time they weren't in pieces."

He regretted saying as soon as he said it. Octane stared at him for enough time that Tae Joon started to notice the way that his breaths were starting to come out stuttered as he tried to push himself up on the bed.

Octane's mouth opened but he paused when he heard a small light sound from the other side of the room.

"Was that D.O.C?" He asked.

Tae Joon's cat let out a little meow again. He'd hoped that the painkillers that he had given him for the broken paw would have calmed him down but it had only made him antsy.

He kept his eyes away from the cat crate when he said, "yes.”

"No way, seriously what is that?"

"It's nothing, your ears are still ringing," he told him.

Octane snorted, "prowlers aren't loud enough for that to happen and I'm pretty sure that you're not the one making those sounds."

"Can't you go back to sleep?"

For a moment, he wondered if Octane was going to agree with him but his cat only started meowing louder from the crate.

"You know what?" Octane said with a grin. "Maybe this is worth waking Ajay up for, hey Che-"

"Fine," he cut Octane off before he could get any louder, "just stop yelling."

He headed back to the chair he had been sitting in and dragged the cloth off of the crate before unlocking the door and scooping up the cat. Even if Tae Joon was reluctant, that didn't mean that his cat shared the same opinion because he was only getting louder as he got close to Octane again.

When he saw the cat, he started whispering loudly, " _ gatito _ , gimme!"

"He doesn't really like strangers," Tae Joon said but his cat wiggled in his arms like he wanted to leap onto the bed.

Traitor.

Octane raised an eyebrow, "he seems pretty friendly to me. C'mon, kitty wants a cuddle, don't you little guy?"

It only took him a second to realise that he wasn't going to be able to keep the two apart.

So Tae Joon warned him, "be careful with his paw."

"Aw, aren't you the cutest little guy?" Octane cooed as he sunk back down into the bed and the cat found its way onto his chest. "Who does he - or she - belong to?"

"It's a he."

Octane was massaging the cat's ears when he exclaimed, "wait no way, he's yours!"

"And?"

"And it's so perfect," he explained. "You're a total cat guy, I knew it. So what's this tiny guy's name?"

Tae Joon took a moment to inhale before he answered, "Meow."

"Uh-huh meow to you too," Octane continued unfazed. "I asked, what's his name?"

"Meow," he said flatly, "his name is Meow."

Octane was quiet for a moment like he was holding back a laugh while he kept petting Meow. Eventually, he smiled in a way that was surprisingly soft for the man, "aw, that's kinda adorable. Not to knock your taste in names but there were so many other opportunities."

"Like what?" He asked.

Octane squinted at the cat as if in deep concentration before he said, "well he's orange so…Garfield?"

"That's worse than Meow," he told him.

"What? It's perfect!" He insisted. "You're not seeing the potential here. Give him a plate of lasagna and it'll be perfect, I promise you."

Tae Joon considered that and admitted, "he does eat anything."

"I bet he hates Mondays too," Octane said. "Does he do any tricks?"

He blinked slowly, "it's a cat."

"So?" He asked like he wasn't seeing the issue. "Hey, why don't you let him join in on any of the matches?"

"Are you joking?"

Octane laughed and Meow shifted closer to his face, "hey when I was a kid I had this pet rabbit. He joined in on all of my stunts back then."

"I doubt any of those stunts included death matches," he mumbled.

He grinned when he outlined his plan, "It'd be perfect! This little guy could fit in your jacket pocket and meow whenever someone came up behind you. That way you wouldn't even need your drone!"

"I think I'll stick to the drone," Tae Joon decided.

"Hey never say never - oop sorry Meow," Octane paused when he accidentally touched his paw and the cat fully twitched. "How'd you hurt your little paw?"

Octane was looking at the cat but Tae Joon answered, "he got into a fight bigger than he could handle."

He laughed, "ha, he kind of reminds me of Wraith."

"He does?" Tae Joon asked, trying not to blanch.

"They're both small and like getting into fights and uh…" Octane began but paused after a moment and continued to size up Meow. "I guess Wraith doesn't have red hair…And I think that if I tried to give her a belly rub then she'd kill me…But you love belly rubs don't you?"

Tae Joon wasn't exactly surprised at the attention that Meow was getting. He was used to the cat hopping into his lap while he was on his laptop whenever he wanted attention. If he wanted food, Meow was always happy to crawl on his keyboard until he would be forced to take a break from his bright screen.

He hadn't planned on taking his and Mila's cat with him. But when Mystik had suggested a way that he could take the opportunity, he had. Although he knew that her enthusiasm had been owed to the fact she likely didn't want to take care of him anymore because of her allergies.

"Do you mind telling me how long I was gone for?" Octane asked him.

He paused before answering, "almost half a week."

"Oh shit," He swore, "Ajay is definitely going to kill me."

Tae Joon thought of the two of them. He'd been matched with them more than once and for all their bickering, they still worked together like a finely oiled machine. Octane never needed to ask for meds before she would palm them in his hands. Every time Ajay scolded him or rolled her eyes, Tae Joon recognised that fond tone that always remained.

So he told him, "I doubt it."

"You don't know Che like I do then."

He sighed, "you've known each other for a long time haven't you? She'll be more grateful that you're alive."

Octane snorted, "yeah because if I was dead then she wouldn't be able to kill me herself and this time I won't have any legs to run away with."

"You seemed to manage to do fine crawling the other night," he said.

"The other night?" He asked. "Oh, you mean at the practice range? Huh, we gotta stop running into each other late at night like this."

His eyes narrowed, "maybe you should stop creating problems for yourself then."

"Boo," Octane groaned, "you'd never say that to me would you Meow?"

Tae Joon shut his eyes to stop from rolling them, "hard to tell when he can't talk."

"But if he could, he'd sing nothing but my praises," he hummed. "You know what? This guy would make the best mascot!"

"For what?"

Octane laughed and explained, "for the games duh! I bet they'd make plushies outta this little guy that'd sell like gold."

"I'm not sure about that," Tae Joon murmured, although his eyes were on Meow who seemed perfectly happy being stuck to Octane.

He frowned and looked at the cat, "are you gonna tell Meow that he's not cute enough to be merch worthy? Look him in the eyes and tell him that I dare you."

"I'm not going to-"

Octane lifted up Meow and turned him in his direction and began to mimic a high pitch whine like a cat as he spoke, "why are you so mean to me?"

He sighed, "stop-"

"Look at my big green eyes," he continued imitating his cat, "are you really gonna say that I'm not the best little kitty?"

"Can you just-"

At this point, Octane had lifted himself out of the bed to push Meow into Tae Joon's face, "tell me the truth, I'm the cutest right?"

He was this close to just pulling the cat from his arms but instead said, "I'm not-"

"Sorry Meow," Octane murmured as he coddled the cat in his arms, "looks like your owner just doesn't like you that much."

Tae Joon exhaled through his nose before he decided that Octane wasn't going to quit it until he went along with him.

"Fine, you're a great cat," he said, "now you can stop it."

Octane grinned, "what do you mean stop it? That was all meow saying that."

Before either of them could say anything else, Meow rearranged himself on Octane and yawned and a moment later he was yawning too.

"Aw, you're making me sleepy too little guy," Octane mumbled to the cat.

"You should get some sleep," he told him.

When Tae Joon reached out his arms, neither of the two in the bed moved.

A second later, he asked, "can I keep the cat?"

"No."

Octane rolled his eyes, "I didn't mean permanently. I'm freezing and this guy makes for the fuzziest scarf."

He looked down at the two of them. Meow seemed awfully comfortable and he had long ago given up trying to force his cat to do anything.

"It's too late to argue," he finally decided.

A smile split across his face as Meow kept on purring, "does that mean-"

"Go to sleep and I'll get him in the morning before you wake up," Tae Joon told him.

"You're the best Hyeon," he said and gave him a lazy thumbs up.

That made him pause and he knew that he must have given it away on his face but he only said, "just go to sleep."

"What's that look mean to be?" Octane asked.

"Nothing," he said.

Octane kept staring at him, a feeling that Tae Joon hated before he said, "you didn't think that I'd remember your name? I said I would last time."

"You also said that you'd go to sleep if I gave you Meow," he muttered.

He laughed then petted under Meow's chin, "yeah, yeah, now purr me a lullaby little angel."

Tae Joon didn't expect Octane to settle so quickly yet as he sat back in that chair, it only took a few minutes until his breathing evened out once again. So for the rest of the night, he remained in that chair until he could find some semblance of sleep himself.

Just to make sure that Meow was alright, of course.

-

Years of Mila dragging him down to rundown house parties hadn't in the least prepared Tae Joon for this sort of event. Yet here was, in the heart of Solace at a soiree that he would truly rather not have come to.

He hadn't needed Bangalore to convince him to come. The Syndicate had practically ordered the attendance of all legends at the party. Still, Bangalore had figured it as an opportunity to find out more about Hammond's plans that Loba was unaware of.

That might have been useful for Bangalore, but Tae Joon had his own priorities that he had been hoping to act on.

He had soon figured out that the event would be a disappointment. There was a lack of high-ranking members of either Hammond Robotics or the Syndicate. Even if there had been, he had always been better at securing information from a distance and it was impossible to eavesdrop at an event like this.

He hadn't yet decided if it would be better to leave entirely or if there was still some merit in staying. So he had taken a page out of his old habits when he had gone to those house parties with Mila and found a corner to skulk off to.

At this point however, Tae Joon should have begun to expect that any time he tried to find some quiet, he would always run into Octane.

"Looks like we got a new member of the loner club," Octane greeted him with a grin.

Lifeline and Wattson both gave him a wave and smile, the three of them were relaxing around an indoor pool. However, the only one of them who was making use of it was Octane, who was dangling his linen-covered prosthetic legs into the water.

Wattson gave a frown and turned back to Octane, "I thought we were the 'pool people?'"

"I still can't believe that they throw this boring ass party and they throw an out of bounds sign in front of the indoor pool," Octane threw a hand over his mouth as he yawned. "That's the best part!"

Lifeline snorted, "you didn't seem to mind shoving as many hors d'oeuvres as you could into your pockets at this 'boring ass party.'"

"If you're just here to argue with me," he rolled his eyes, "then go back to the party."

"I'm here to make sure you don't break your neck jumping into the pool," she warned him then added, "and they ran out of shrimp and I know you still got some in your pockets."

Tae Joon felt somewhat uncomfortable standing in the entrance but he stayed in his spot as Octane laughed and handed some food to Lifeline.

Octane kicked his legs in the water, "I wish I hadn't worn pants to this, I want to properly feel this water."

Tae Joon wasn't exactly sure how that would work, especially since he doubted that the man would be able to feel anything in his legs.

"And I thought I was crazy wearing a dress to this but here we are," Lifeline murmured. She hadn't yet dunked her legs in the pool, yet they were drifting on the edge as if she was considering it.

Wattson smiled and adjusted herself so that she was a bit further back from the water that Octane was kicking up. "You two will just have to enjoy it twice as much for me," she said while picking at a button on her suit jacket.

"Or," Octane offered and leaned closer to her, "you could just dip your feet in anyway."

"I don't know how you can stand that," Wattson shivered at the sight of Octane continuing to kick his pant-covered legs in the water. Tae Joon didn't think it looked comfortable at all either.

Octane only laughed at that, "why? The water's perfect!"

"And how perfect is it gonna be when you have to leave and you track water through the halls?" Lifeline asked.

"Depends on how many people slip on the way out."

Lifeline grimaced at that but Wattson covered her mouth to hide a small laugh.

Octane's attention shifted off of the two of them and he asked Tae Joon, "you joining us?"

He watched the three of them carefully. This wouldn't be his first choice, however, he also wasn't in the mood to check every closet in this mansion until he found an empty space.

"For now," he eventually decided and headed to one of the pool chairs laying near the pool.

There wasn't enough room to distance himself from them without awkwardly nudging the chair. So he stayed on the chair on his phone while the three of them sat by the pool in front of him.

"Watts are you gonna get your feet wet or what?" Octane asked her.

"I think that I'm fine for now," she said, "I wouldn't like to risk slipping in."

Lifeline nodded in agreement, "no point in ruining a nice suit."

Wattson smiled thankfully and added, "I'm more worried about what would happen if I fell in."

"Wait," Octane cut in, "you can't swim?"

"I never learned it," she said in a small voice.

Octane looked between the of them as if they were insane and then turned his head back to Tae Joon. He knew that those wild eyes were looking at him, still, he kept his eyes on his phone.

When it became clear that no one would answer him, he huffed, "I can't believe that you never learned! King's Canyon is an island!"

"I grew up in the city," Wattson amended, "most of the time the only body of water I saw was in a bathtub."

"But you had those big puppies right in your backyard!" He argued.

She frowned, "puppies? You mean the Leviathans?"

"Yeah same thing," he said with a shrug.

"I'm not very good with animals," she said.

Lifeline dipped a toe in the water and began to test for the temperature of the pool. "Really? I could picture you with a cat, maybe a tortoise," she considered with a smile.

"Tortoise?" Octane huffed. "You're kidding me. I mean if you want to see a cat, I know a guy who could hook you up."

Tae Joon didn't miss the way that he had flashed him a grin for a single second before he turned back to Lifeline's attention when she flicked water at him with her toe.

She laughed and dunked a leg under the water, "you were always more of a rabbit kind of guy, remember Navi?"

"Funny you should say that Ajay," Wattson said, "there was a small time when I wanted a tortoise growing up."

"You did?" She asked.

Wattson made a so-so gesture and continued, "well, I actually wanted a Nessie which was terrible for Papa."

"Why?"

"Because when I was little he told they were real because I loved the idea of them so much," she said with a small giggle at the memory.

Lifeline gave a fond smile, "sort of like working up the courage to tell your kids that Santa isn't real?"

"Exactly!" She agreed with a small clap of her hands. "He kept on making excuses, 'sorry, they're all sold out this season' or 'they have to hibernate in the winter' and my favourite, 'we don't have a pool so we can't keep them anywhere.'"

Octane asked, "what did you do after that?"

"I got a shovel and I started digging and filling the pit with water."

"You're joking," Lifeline said flatly, Tae Joon was tempted to say the same.

The other woman gave a small laugh, "I was very determined - and very upset when I eventually found out that they weren't real."

Octane leaned towards Lifeline, "you know, I reckon it was Ajay that told me that Santa wasn't real."

"I don't remember that," she said with a frown.

"I do!" He argued back and pretended to faint as he laid back onto Wattson's shoulder and loudly whispered to her. "I remember that terrible moment when Ajay stole my childhood from me."

Lifeline simply rolled her eyes, "sure you do."

"It's true!"

Her eyes shifted from his to Wattson's as she asked, "so Nat, did you ever end up with that tortoise?"

"No," she said with a small smile, "after the Nessie incident, I started going to school and I got swept up in it all."

Lifeline said, "doesn't mean you can't get one. I bet with the money from the games, you could buy a tortoise with a diamond shell if you wanted."

" Aw c'mon," Octane jabbed at Wattson's shoulder, "why buy a reptile when you could buy one of those prowlers, now that's a pet!"

"Or," Lifeline began and inched closer with a smile on her face that Tae Joon recognised from Mila, "maybe you've already got someone waiting at home for you?"

Wattson set her hands in her lap and asked, "what?"

That sly smile was still on Lifeline's face when she asked, "what's the age for soulmate marks in Solace again?"

Tae Joon was silently beginning to regret that he'd made his way here.

"Oh, twenty-one," she murmured and she continued to fiddle with her hands in her lap.

"In Psamathe, it was eighteen," Octane said, too quiet to be characteristic of the daredevil.

Wattson hummed, "I wish I had been so lucky, if only it was the same age here."

"Luck doesn't go far if you haven't found them with the extra time," Octane told her.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean-" Wattson began to say.

However, Lifeline interjected straight away, "we know what you meant Nat you didn't cause anyone any offence, we'll meet 'em when we meet 'em."

Wattson's vision focused back on the water, however, Tae Joon didn't miss the stern look that Lifeline gave Octane in that split second.

"I suppose I still worry because my name is quite common," Wattson murmured when she looked back at them. "I thought the games would help but if anyone's tried to reach out to me then I haven't seen them."

Lifeline leaned back onto her elbows and said, "relax Nat, you've only had it for a year, you've got plenty of time."

"I know, it's just difficult to not think about," she decided.

"Yeah, yeah," Octane grumbled, "fate or whatever."

Lifeline rolled her eyes and nudged his shoulder, "c'mon Tavi don't be a bummer, we all got plenty of time."

Octane shrugged and continued to swirl a leg in the water, "my grandma didn't meet hers until she was seventy, that better not run in the family."

"We just have to leave it to fate," Wattson murmured.

"Didn't expect that from an engineer," Lifeline said with a small smile.

It was an expression that Wattson returned with her own smile, "I've always been full of surprises."

"Yeah," she agreed, "like digging a hole in your backyard to make a pool for Nessies apparently - I bet you were the cutest kid."

"Aw, I'm sure I must have the photos somewhere," she said with a small laugh.

Octane lifted another one of the hors d'oeuvres out of his pocket, "I'll trade you the photos for the rest of my pocket shrimp."

"I'm not sure I have any on my phone," Wattson said with a shrug.

"You just lost a chance for the best pocket shrimp you'll ever get," he teased before he turned to Tae Joon. "Hey, you wanna get in on some of this?"

"I'll pass," Tae Joon told him and the other man pulled back the shrimp and finished it himself.

Wattson piped up to ask, "you two grew up together didn't you?"

"Sure," the medic answered.

She hummed for a moment before she said, "I'm not sure I can imagine what you two looked like."

"Ha!" Octane laughed and smacked the water with his foot. "Ajay, did you ever finish burning all the photos?"

"I better have," she grumbled.

He was still laughing, "I'm sure I could still dig some up."

"You wouldn't dare," she warned him.

"Why?" Wattson interrupted to ask.

Lifeline rubbed a corner of her eye and said, "my high school years weren't the prettiest."

"You know I think I still have that one photo-"

"Tavi I swear-"

But Octane only continued, "the one where you were sixteen and you had that shitty acne and those braces with that headgear attached to it."

Lifeline swore under her breath, "I almost forgot about the headgear."

"Oh! And those thick lenses on the glasses you had and that year you only wore mismatched flannel shirts and pants," he added.

She eyed him for a moment before she said, "I pulled it off better than you did."

"Hey, at least I had an excuse!" He laughed. "I was recovering from surgery, you just wanted that girl from economics to know that you were single."

Lifeline sputtered for a moment, "'recovering' is that what you call it?"

"I can't imagine you sitting still for long enough," Wattson agreed.

"Gave me a good excuse to boss Ajay around for once," he added.

Lifeline groaned, "it was all 'Ajay carry my textbooks', 'Ajay can you reach that for me', 'Ajay make me lunch' and you had servants in your house!"

"Pft, hey don't blame me," he surrendered and raised his arms, "I'm the victim for having to wear button-up shirts for that long."

"Until you discovered vests and went through that phase," she murmured.

His eyes lit up in remembrance, "the vests! Ha, but like all good things, they eventually come to an end."

"Oh boo-hoo," Lifeline said, "you're just lucky you didn't have to go back to the surgeon to fix any stitches. I don't know how you managed to sit still for so long."

"Well," he considered, "beating you at video games was good enough entertainment."

She scoffed, "that's because I still wasn't used to my contacts."

"You wear glasses?" Wattson asked her.

"Used to," Lifeline told her, "luckily my vision eventually corrected after school."

"I still could've destroyed you even if you had glasses," he told her before fixing his attention on Tae Joon. "Hey, did you ever have those thick glasses too? You seem like the sort of guy."

Tae Joon took a moment to consider that while he shut off his phone, "If I did, you'd never see the photo."

"What about contacts?" Octane pressed. "Ajay used to wear those coloured ones, you could get some with those cool cat eyes with the slits."

That was more of Mila's style. She'd never needed glasses as he had but she'd kept more fashionable contacts than he ever had. He'd only switched to contacts when he'd gone on the run and they'd become more convenient.

"I'm just glad I grew out of them," Ajay said when Tae Joon was silent after a moment.

"And that flannel too," he added.

She laughed, "it wasn't that bad, I just didn't know how to style it. Still, I'm glad I figured out a style by the time I got my mark. Hell, if my soulmate met me and walked the other way I wouldn't have blamed them."

"You don't really mean that do you?" Wattson asked, the concern in her voice fully vivid.

"Nah, I'm just joking," Ajay amended.

Octane lifted a hand, "but if they did then you would've killed 'em right?"

"Oh, without a doubt," she agreed with a grin that showed her teeth.

Wattson took a moment to bask in the silence before she asked, "so neither of you have..."

No one needed to verify what she meant.

"You'd think that having our names up on every screen in the Outlands would have fixed that," Octane mumbled.

"Maybe they're not a big TV watcher," Wattson considered lightly.

"Like a hermit?" Octane asked.

Lifeline added, "or some people don't like getting tattoos."

Octane clicked his tongue, "I've never gotten people like that. What's even the point?"

"If that's their choice then that's their choice," Lifeline told him.

"I knew somebody in an apartment near me," Wattson began to say. "His home burnt down and well, he'd never gotten his soulmate marks tattooed and his arm was completely burned. But afterwards, when the burn marks healed, the marks appeared without a tattooist at all."

Tae Joon had heard the story before from his sister. She'd mentioned it offhandedly as if it was only a simple story that she'd heard on the news earlier. But with her, stories about soulmates were always not-so-subtle assurances that perhaps he still had a chance.

Octane raised an eyebrow, "how'd he feel about that?"

"I'd like to think he was happy," she answered, "especially considering that one of the nurses who treated him matched his name."

"Wait I think I did hear about that story," Octane contemplated, "kinda weird."

Lifeline splashed more water towards him, "that's because you're not a romantic."

He laughed at that, "I'd never accuse you of being the romantic kind either Ajay."

"Then we're all buzzkills here," she replied before tipping her chin towards Wattson, "except for Natalie apparently."

The engineer smiled at that before she asked Tae Joon, "what about you?"

"Hm? No," was all he responded with. 

"You sure?" Octane asked. "No spicy illustrated novels you got stored around?"

He stopped himself from grinding his teeth to reply, "no."

Octane gave a half-grin, "ah I get it, all on the drone."

"Quit it!" Lifeline told him. "You got a real bad habit for pissing off everybody you meet Tavi."

"What do you mean?" He asked with his voice dripping with exaggerated innocence. "Everyone loves me. Except for Revenant, but he hates everyone."

She dragged her legs out of the pool while she told him, "just don't give him a reason to yank off your legs again."

The two of them continued to argue between themselves and when Wattson realised that she wasn't going to be able to get a word between them, she turned to Tae Joon instead.

She was easy to talk to at least, even if he sometimes found it difficult to keep up with her.

While they talked, his mind stayed on Lifeline and Octane. The laughter between the bickering and small inside jokes were all too familiar. It was something he had noticed being around Lifeline before, the confidence and quick wit all reminded him of Mila.

It was sickening and comforting all at once.

It was only a few minutes later that the door opened again and Wraith slunk into the room, finding a spot next to Wattson.

"Heard there was shrimp," was her only explanation before she sat down.

That alerted Octane enough that he broke from his conversation to ask, "where the fuck did you even hear that?"

Wraith shrugged and kept mostly quiet as the party outside continued. Only raising her voice to ask for a spare drink laying around the room.

Tae Joon considered that Bangalore would likely be disappointed that practically half of the group had decided to hide out instead of finding information.

However, that was a problem for tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weird fact but this was originally going to be a Gibto fic but I got way too inspired by the patron saint of cryptane Zul and now I'm really glad that I ended up doing this. 
> 
> I'm really happy to be on holidays so that I can dedicate plenty of time to this but I'm also waiting for the quests to finish so I can include all the drama for that, so I need to be careful that I don't write too quickly. Anyway, the point is that I'm glad you're with me to read this everybody <3


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter and the rest of the series contains spoilers from the Broken Ghost quests in-game. Proceed with caution y'all.

Tae Joon didn't stick around the bar for a second longer after Caustic finished his grand speech.]

He'd felt each eye in the bar on his back as he'd walked out. He could still feel Bangalore's grip on his wrist when he tried to leave and how she'd only stared at him coldly when he yanked his arm back.

_ Mole.  _ He had been labelled a traitor, never be trusted, always to be watched.

They never stopped watching him.

Even in the alleyway, he could still feel the presence of their eyes on his back, digging past his clothes and into his skin. This time of night, the city streets were sunken in darkness, a perfect place for hiding those prying eyes.

But Octane hadn't picked up on that memo of stealth.

Tae Joon wanted to run when he heard the telltale sound of those platinum legs following him, chasing him, but he didn't. He didn't want to give Octane or anyone else following him a reason to fire.

"Hey! Where are you heading?" Octane called out and Tae Joon increased the pace of his steeps. "C'mon you didn't think you could outspeed me did you?"

It didn't Octane any longer to catch up to him, keeping stride with Tae Joon while jogging on the spot to waste that seemingly eternal energy.

Octane almost slipped when Tae Joon suddenly stopped and turned to him.

"For just once," he said slowly so that he could be sure that Octane would process every word, "can you fuck off and leave me alone."

Octane just stared at him blankly through those heavy lenses and Tae Joon turned down a different street and away from him.

However, a few moments later he heard those legs moving again. "Shit, that whole thing really got under your skin," Octane mumbled to him once he caught up with him again.

"Shouldn't you be back at the bar?" Tae Joon asked him.

Anything to keep Octane's attention off of him and onto something else. He didn't have the energy to entertain him right now.

Octane shrugged, "nah, I think the party's over for everyone. They're all heading home to sleep or getting the last piece for themselves."

"And what are you doing?" He asked, only for the purpose of finding a way to change his focus.

"Stretching my legs," he explained with a small yawn, "nothing like a nice walk down a mysterious alley with a mysterious guy at night."

Tae Joon eyed the streets, looking for something that he could turn Octane in the direction of. He couldn't deal with this tonight.

He should have never gotten himself involved with these people. He was meant to keep his head down, he  _ should  _ have kept his head down.

"Hm," Tae Joon murmured to fill the silence.

"Well actually," he continued, "I was just about to jump onto the ship with Ajay to fight some of those overgrown lizard dogs but then I started remembering how  _ boring  _ fighting those dumb things are."

He didn't know how the other man could find anything from that world boring. Disturbing, terrifying, sure. He didn't believe for a moment that Octane could find something like that boring.

Octane himself had been stuck there for days and had his legs torn off in the process. So maybe he wasn't completely insane if he wasn't ready to run there head first again.

"So?" He asked when he realised that Octane seemed to be expecting a response.

"Well, I figure that you've got to be doing some crazy fun mole stuff right?" He explained. "Breaking into places, making deals with the devil, playing poker with some dogs?"

Tae Joon was about to snap at him until he caught that last part, "what?"

He clarified, "you know that painting with the dogs around the poker table? Had it in my old room. Seems like the stuff a mole would do."

Tae Joon was close to his apartment now. It would only take a few more minutes until he would reach the apartment building but there was no way that he'd take Octane there.

So instead of heading there, he began to make his path around the surrounding blocks.

"Then you'll be disappointed because I'm not the mole," he said flatly.

"Hey I'm not 'disappointed!'" Octane exclaimed. "I mean...I'd love to see some poker dog hijinks but I reckon it's better for everyone if you're not the mole."

Tae Joon was quiet for a moment, slowing his steps before he asked, "so you don't think it's me?"

"I didn't say that," he said, "it'd just be cool if it wasn't you."

"Who do you think it is then?" He asked him.

He hadn't kept his eyes shut while he'd been with the other legends. He'd never ignored the possibility of a traitor being amongst them. Loba knew enough that she was a threat, a traitor could know even more.

Even if Caustic had practically laughed at the accusations...Well, even if he wasn't the traitor, he couldn't be trusted.

None of them could be trusted.

Octane answered, "I don't know, I'm not a detective man. I mean Caustic talks all big and convincing, he kinda reminds me of those orchestra conductors with the big waving arms. You see it right?"

"No."

"Whatever your loss," he sighed, "I mean, he's smart and talks big but I always reckoned that you'd need to be a people person to be so confident about who's going behind your back."

Tae Joon mulled that over, "so you don't think that Caustic's enough of a gossip to figure it out?"

Octane laughed at that, "I guess. Also, you seem more like a dork than a dick. More of a cat hoarder than an evil villain petting a cat on your lap."

"I guess."

"You guess?" Octane exclaimed. "You don't sound very confident."

"I'm not the mole," he told him flatly.

Octane stretched out his arms in front of him, "now that's better. Get some bark in your bite. Also, it's way better if you're not the mole because Watts would be stuck being super duper sad."

It had been too long since he'd been able to speak to someone without holding his breath. It had never been like that with Wattson, she'd never gloated, never teased him, never poked or prodded.

It was nice to feel like a person after so long.

But maybe he never should have spoken to her. If he hadn't, maybe he would have noticed that someone was preparing to frame him. Maybe things would have been better off if he had never spoken to her.

"If she'll ever look at me again," Tae Joon found himself muttering under his breath.

Octane just shook his head and said easily, "aw she's a tough cookie. I'm sure she'll speak to you...Or if not Wraith will shake you like a purse until she's certain that she's shaken the truth out of you."

"Hooray."

"Now there's the deadpan Hyeon that everyone knows and kinda likes or at least tolerates," he celebrated, loud enough that Tae Joon winced.

_ Which are you to be here?  _ He was almost tempted to ask.

Instead, he told him, "great, you can leave now."

"Hey, if you're not the mole then don't you want to take some revenge?" Octane teased him. "C'mon it's the perfect night, full moon, bar's empty, hell we could even go get that final piece of the artifact if you want.

Tae Joon had a feeling that Octane's revenge was more in line with spray paint or poking the holes in the tires of someone's car.

"I just want to go home," he said.

"Ugh, that's so boring," he complained, "I bet your place is boring too. Speaking of...Where is that?"

He swallowed, "on the other side of the city."

He could hear Octane thinking before the daredevil asked, "what? But we've been circling this block for the past few minutes. I thought you just didn't want to let me in."

Tae Joon stopped walking, he was making all kinds of mistakes tonight.

"I got distracted," he said simply.

"Or..." Octane began to say, leaning closer in. "Or your place  _ is  _ around here and you just don't want me to see it!"

Tae Joon knew that when Octane had his mind set on something, there was no way that he was going to change it.

Tae Joon winced when he said, "I thought you said that my place would be boring."

"Yeah but I followed you out here instead of kicking prowler ass so I wanna be proven wrong," Octane argued.

Inside his pockets, his hands fiddled with the fabric, "it's not that interesting."

"Not  _ that  _ interesting but still interesting?" He pressed. "I bet you've got like five cat towers and all your furniture is gaming chairs."

"Why would I-" he began before stopping himself. "No, you'd be disappointed."

Octane simply continued, "does that mean I get to see it?"

"No."

"Aw, c'mon are you really going to spend the night crying into your cat alone?" Octane whined. "Why do that when I could steal food from your fridge while you cry into your cat!"

Tae Joon sighed, "I'd rather be alone."

"Didn't correct me on the crying into your cat part," he pointed out.

"Because I..." He trailed off and stopped at the corner of the street. "I'm tired and I want to be left alone."

He didn't want to plan, he didn't want to figure out whoever the real mole was. He already had one name to clear and he couldn't be distracted anymore by the other legends' issues.

He couldn't care about quests and the artifacts that came with them. He couldn't care about soulmate marks.

All he cared about was finding Mila and finding what had set him on this path.

And Octane had no place on that path. So Tae Joon didn't look at him before he started heading off again.

"Hold on a second!"

"I already told you-"

Octane interrupted, "look every time I get annoyed I like my alone time sure but Ajay always sticks around...And I get the feeling that the only Ajay you have is Meow which is kinda bumming me out right now. But everyone deserves to have an Ajay...So let me stick around."

He turned back to Octane, almost looking past those lenses to see into his eyes and said-

"No."

"What? Why not?" Octane shouted. "That was such a good speech!"

Tae Joon raised an eyebrow, "that was meant to be a speech?"

He smacked his forehead, "ugh, I should've had Bangalore write me a speech...Wait a second are you smiling? Asshole."

"I'm not."

"You're totally smiling," he groaned. "These lenses are thick but nothing gets past them."

Tae Joon huffed, "I'm sure."

"I'm just saying that your version of Ajay should at least have opposable thumbs...Also, I miss your cat," he added aptly.

"I really can tell where your priorities are," he muttered, hoping to keep it under his breath but yet again Octane had caught up to him.

Octane exclaimed, "hey, I didn't say that I was perfect like 'Ajay the angel' and 'Ajay who's a doctor at twenty-four' la-de-la."

Any sense of bitterness was covered by sarcasm and that tone of fondness that always stayed in the air when those two spoke of each other.

"I'm guessing that you didn't get the same treatment?" He found himself saying.

"It was mostly 'why'd you wreck your shoes', 'why are you failing your classes', 'Octavio you can't fill the washing machine with mountain dew,'" he rambled.

Tae Joon blinked, "mountain dew?"

Octane shrugged, "I wanted my clothes to be green and...You know what it's a long story and I'll tell it to you if you let me in your apartment."

"No," he replied for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"Ugh!" He groaned heavily. "Okay, here's my final offer, I'm just gonna follow you around all night until either you have to go home or sleep on the ground."

Tae Joon opened his mouth and then closed it. Dealing with Octane had always taken a certain amount of energy and tonight he didn't know if he could muster it.

_ I could just get a hotel _ , he thought to himself.

When he opened his mouth he decided, "fine."

"Woohoo!" Octane shouted and spun in circles. "Time to go to the Crypto Cave, the Hyeon Home, the-"

"Just hurry up and shut up," he told him before he started heading in the direction of his apartment.

Octane remained mostly silent for the rest of the trip to the apartment building. Even when Tae Joon could tell that he was biting his tongue that was filled with thoughts of the building, he remained silent.

He slipped out his key card to the building silently and began to climb the stairs, not the elevator, that had been out of service for weeks now. He knew that Octane was looking at every stain on the wall and sign of water damage from the constantly damp-looking ceiling.

Five flights of stairs later, Octane finally broke his silence.

"I know you've only been in the games for a while so you might not have that much saved up," he said, "but this place is uh..."

Tae Joon rolled his eyes, "quaint? Cosy?"

"Little bit of a shithole," he corrected him.

Tae Joon didn't argue against that. He'd kept his head down since arriving here and that was easiest to do in a place like this with security that never pried.

Still, Tae Joon said, "it's comfortable."

"It's sticky," he argued as he dragged a finger down the wall.

"You can still leave if you want," he told him.

Yet Octane was only quiet as they continued heading up the stairs and towards his apartment.

He was quick to jiggle the key in his door, it always took a bit of fidgeting with the locks here. When he opened his apartment, he went straight to sitting down on the dark-coloured frumpy couch.

Octane, on the other hand, waited by the door, "oh, this is...Kinda nicer than the rest of this building. Definitely less sticky."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Tae Joon murmured, giving a short whistle and peaking around the apartment for Meow.

He'd never known Octane to hold back what he was going to say, so he had expected more rambling from him about his apartment.

There were plenty of jokes to make after all. The broken ceiling lights, the piles of clothes littered around, the weird smell from the radiator and a dozen other things he could have picked at.

"So you got food here?" Octane asked, still near the door.

"Yes," he said bluntly as Meow came into view from under his desk towards the side of the living room.

Octane asked, "are you going to show me it?"

The cat jumped onto his lap, not wasting any time before rubbing its head on his arm. At least he had his cat. As disappointing as that thought was, at least he had someone here.

Tae Joon told him, "you can do it yourself."

"You're not a very good host," he heard Octane mumble.

"I don't care."

A few moments later, he heard rustling in the kitchen fridge that made Meow perk up his ears.

Octane began to list, "so we've got...Thai takeout, uh...gourmet cat food and something that smells alcoholic but doesn't have a label."

"Don't touch that it's expensive," he warned him.

After a pause, he heard, "doesn't smell like it."

Tae Joon didn't have anything important laying around the apartment, he wasn't an idiot. Even then, he didn't like the idea of Octane rummaging around where he couldn't keep an eye on him.

"Stop digging around back there," Tae Joon told him, "sit down Octane."

"Ugh don't even bother with that when we're not in the arena," he complained as he stepped into the living room. "Just use my actual name."

He'd never introduced himself as Octavio before but he knew his name. Even if he hadn't done his own research on all the legends, Octavio had grown his own support base that was loud enough to let everyone know.

He perked up when he saw Meow on Tae Joon's lap, "hey there's my favourite kitty!"

"His paw's still hurt," he warned Octavio when he saw his hands reach out.

"I know, I know, now gimme the kitty!" He shouted as he began to scoop Meow out of his lap.

Meow didn't seem to need much encouragement, happily finding a place in Octavio's arms as he coddled him.

"I'm serious you know," Octane continued, "this place has its perks."

"I don't really care about keeping it clean," he felt the need to tell him.

His old apartment with Mila had mostly always stayed clean. It had been easier then, less clutter, fewer problems.

Now when he returned to the apartment after the games he spent every moment scanning his laptop for answers. All these new things had become so important and there was no time for scouring the internet late at night for answers of soulmate marks. No time for spending time relaxing. And of course, no time to clean his apartment.

"Oh yeah I can tell," Octavio responded, "the stale deodorant smell really gives it away but you've got this whole green subterranean mole person thing going on...Not that you're a mole."

"Noted," he said dimly.

Tapping his feet against his carpeted floor he asked, "do you really not wanna talk about the mole thing?"

"No."

"No as in no I want to or-"

"No."

Octavio huffed a laugh, "I'll take that as a no...But I wanna talk about the mole thing."

He was grinding his teeth when he said, "and I don't."

"Yeah broken record but I don't get it," he said. "Don't you wanna go punch something? Reclaim your honour?"

"I  _ wanted  _ to go sleep," he told him plainly.

Octavio let out a low whistle, "I'm just saying that you seem real pent up for someone who just wants to go to sleep."

Octavio would have been right a few months ago. Back then there was a sense that he was chasing something. When he'd destroyed the repulsor tower and snuck into the games it had felt like he had finally gotten close to what he wanted.

Then game after game happened. Countless ways of killing and being killed and all the while searching for clues that would answer his questions. Long days and longer nights of grasping at straws and whispers in the wind.

Burnt out. That was the only way to describe it.

"You don't have any cat towers," Octavio observed, breaking Tae Joon from his thoughts.

He narrowed his eyes, "why would I?"

"Well, you're not spending your money on anything else."

"I'm saving it," he said. Mostly a lie, he'd only need the money for bribes.

Octavio yawned, a sound that the cat mimicked, "boo. If I had a cat then I'd buy a whole apartment for it. Make a little kitty paradise, would you like that Meow? You wanna stay with me?"

"You're not stealing my cat," Tae Joon told him. 

"Damn, let me at least buy you a cat tower," he said, "this guy deserves something fancier to sleep on than your pile of jackets in the corner."

That wasn't even an exaggeration, he was pointing towards the spot by his desk where he tended to drop his coats that Meow liked to sleep on.

Tae Joon looked down at Meow and said, "he likes the pile of jackets."

"Would you sleep on a pile of jackets?"

"I'm not a cat," he answered.

Octavio laughed, "could've fooled me. You've always got this intense look like a cat about to go after a laser pointer. So we getting pizza?"

The sudden change in conversation painted the frown on his face. "You're not staying for dinner," he told him.

"I mean it's more like a midnight snack at this point," he said.

"You're not getting pizza."

"You don't have food in your kitchen and I'm starving," he groaned.

Tae Joon was fairly certain that the Thai takeout wasn't expired...Yet.

Instead of offering that he said, "then get it yourself."

"I will!" Octavio exclaimed and dug his phone of out his pocket. "I'll order it myself, just wanted to see what type you liked."

He told him, "you're not getting grease all over my apartment."

"Hate to break it to you but I think it's too late for that," he said. "I'm getting supreme what do you want?"

"I've already got food here," he said somewhat defensively.

Octavio was unbuckling his goggles and mask on the couch, flinging the items to the ground as he did so.

It allowed to Tae Joon to see him roll his eyes when he said, "yeah cat food. Seriously, I'm paying just choose something."

On one hand, he didn't want Octavio to have any sort of affiliation to where he stayed. He learned that any sort of information could be used against him, even an address to a clean alias.

On the other hand, it had been a long day and he was tired and hungry.

"Fine," Tae Joon decided. "Get me a margarita with anchovies."

"Anchovies?" He coughed, voice clear with disgust. "Shit you really are a cat."

He frowned, "you said you'd pay."

"Yeah, I'll pay just..." He trailed off and with his gear off his face, he could see his wrinkled nose. "Ugh, gross. You may as well eat that cat food."

Tae Joon didn't understand his disgust. Anchovies were salty, it was the best add-on for pizza. Octavio didn't complain anymore, it only took him a few minutes to order to food and get the exact address from him.

At some point, Meow slunk off towards the pile of jackets near his desk, leaving Octavio with nothing to occupy his hands with.

Eventually, after a minute of mindlessly tapping his hands he piped up, "you got games?"

"Not really."

"But you've got a big holo-TV," he groaned, "let me log in with my account and I'll use it."

At this point, it was just better not to argue to Octavio. So Tae Joon handed him the remote and let him navigate to log into one of his streaming and gaming accounts.

Tae Joon wasn't exactly sure how he was going to play until Octavio pulled out his phone and navigated to an app that connected to the holo-TV as a controller.

"Is this what you spend all your money on from the games?" Tae Joon asked him as he watched him scan through the library of games.

"Nah," he said, "I got sponsored by all these brands to play their stuff but most of it sucks."

"Unlike..." He trailed off sceptically as he saw Octavio pick a game. "Dog Driver Rodeo?"

Octavio waved the controller, "ok now this game is actually decent. It's got everything you need in a game."

"That being dogs, driving and rodeos?"

He snorted, "you're sceptical now but trust me this game is a masterpiece once you start playing as the cowboy corgi."

"Uh-huh."

"Just watch and you'll see," he promised him. "Hey, play a round with me after this."

Tae Joon blinked, trying to keep his eyes open, "what?"

"Download the controller app on your phone," he said, nudging his knee with his metal leg. "I wanna play multiplayer."

"I don't know how to play," Tae Joon lied.

He rolled his eyes, "it's the same controls as any other Dog Driver Rodeo game in the series. Plus if you play multiplayer you get to play as a horse and I need you to unlock the rest of the characters."

"Can't you do that yourself?"

"Ugh, I just said you needed to play multiplayer and no one else can keep up with me," he complained.

But maybe Tae Joon could keep up with him.

He considered just leaving Octavio on the couch while he slipped into his bedroom, too tired to kick him out. However, at the same time, his mind was still racing and he knew that he'd stay up all night thinking of what the other legends were thinking of him. How Wattson might forever look at him with suspicion.

He needed a distraction and there was one right in front of him now.

In the time it took for the controller to download on his phone, the pizza arrived and the two slipped down from the couch to eat pizza on the floor. Dog Driver Rodeo turned out to be equally entertaining and confusing but it kept Tae Joon awake and distracted.

It wasn't until they'd been playing for two hours and Tae Joon had pulled whatever alcohol was left in his house and flask out that they both seemed to settle into a state of mutual drowsiness.

Octavio had risen to his feet, already calling for a driver to take him to his place and had stumbled his way to the door.

He'd leaned against the door before he'd opened it, clutching his goggles in his hands and Tae Joon had followed him there.

"Finally, some decent host skills," Octavio grumbled but there was a full smile on his face.

"Can you make it down the stairs?" He asked him, noticing that it was harder for him to move on his prosthetics after he'd been drinking.

He waved off the question, "I'm good, thanks for the pizza."

"You ordered it."

"I did didn't I?" Octavio hummed. "I know it probably doesn't mean much but for what it's worth I believe you Hyeon."

Tae Joon stared at him for a moment. He lingered on those words for longer than he should've, not just 'I don't think you're a mole' it felt more than that, fuller than that.

And he noticed other things too. Like how Octavio's grin wasn't a wide-mouthed smile, it was smaller than that, like he was sharing a secret just for them. And how he was shorter than Tae Joon, how he'd have to stretch to reach his height. 

He didn't even know why those thoughts were important but they felt like facts that he needed to repeat in his head over and over again.

"Huh," Octavio observed smugly, "you're even less talkative when you've been drinking. See you around Hyeon."

That was all he said before he slipped out the door and shut it behind him and Tae Joon-

Tae Joon remained there staring at the door for longer than he would ever admit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The legends finding Ash: Oh my god  
> Meanwhile, Crypto and Octane playing Dog Driver Rodeo: Oh my god
> 
> I haven't included too much about soulmates so far but um...Next chapter is certainly going to be interesting but I wouldn't want to spoil what happens so you'll have to wait a little bit longer ;) <3

**Author's Note:**

> Btw I'm referring to Mystik as Ms Ticacek here because I feel like there's enough lore to support the theory that Mystik and Katerina Ticacek are the same person. 
> 
> I've been planning this for a while and I'm glad to find have a piece of it uploaded and they'll be plenty more are ahead :)!


End file.
